Tag: Indigenous Art

Rattling Spears: A History of Indigenous Australian Art, Ian McLean Join MUMA for the launch of Ian McLean’s latest book,Rattling Spears: A History of Indigenous Australian Art. As Senior Research Professor of Contemporary Art at the University of Wollongong and Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia, McLean is an internationally recognised scholar. His previous books include Double Desire: Transculturation and Indigenous Art (2014), How Aborigines Invented the Idea of Contemporary Art (2011) and White Aborigines: Identity Politics in Australian Art (2009). He will be joined in conversation with Rex Butler, Professor (Art History & Theory), Monash University. Date: Wednesday 24 August 6pm Venue: MADA Faculty Gallery, Ground floor, Building G, Monash University, Caulfield campus Presented by Monash University Museum of Art and Monash Art Design & Architecture

Exhibition Dates: 12 March – 31 July 2016 Indigenous artist Judy Watson’s installation, the scarifier, at TarraWarra Museum of Art in the Yarra Valley, responds to the history of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Station near Healesville (1863-1924), which was located not far from where the exhibition is being held. Exhibition curator and TarraWarra Museum of Art Director Victoria Lynn said the Museum commissioned Judy Watson to create the installation to coincide with itsPanorama exhibition, which presents a suite of landscape paintings from the Museum’s collection. ‘In this context it was important to provide audiences with a self-reflexive understanding of the Museum’s location on Indigenous Country. Judy’s evocative and deeply moving installation brings Indigenous and non-Indigenous memories of the local landscape to life. In combination with the Museum’s Panorama exhibition, Judy Watson’s installation of paintings, bones, soil, saplings and clothing provides a creative perspective…

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded US $815,000 to the University of Virginia to create a research centre for the study of the indigenous art of Australia and the Americas. The University is contributing approximately $886,000 to the Indigenous Arts initiative over the course of the Mellon grant, making the initial investment to launch the research and teaching program about $1.7 million. The funding is for four years and will be shared across the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA and the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. It will support the creation of two curator positions for the University’s extensive collections of indigenous art and support a new residency program for visiting scholars, artists and curators. The Mellon-funded program also will support fellowships for UVA faculty pursuing creative and scholarly projects in the arts, as well as…

Join us for a day of presentations and open discussion about the restoration of the 40,000 Years mural and the future of public art in Redfern. The 40,000 Years mural on Lawson Street is a vital part of Redfern’s cultural heritage. Painted in 1983, it contains a complex weave of Aboriginal histories that relate both to the Redfern area and to the passage of Aboriginal people to and from the city of Sydney from across Australia. The mural has deteriorated considerably since it was painted in 1983 and plans are underway for its restoration. At the same time, the Central to Eveleigh Urban Transformation Program has highlighted the need for contemporary Indigenous stories to be represented in future public art projects that contribute to Redfern’s revitalisation. The Redfern Mural Gathering will bring together cultural leaders, artists and community members to…

The University of Melbourne has announced a new Indigenous Arts Residency that will allow Indigenous arts practitioners from Victoria to undertake significant projects. Recipients will receive a cash grant of $40,000 and up to $5,000 for materials as part of the Hutchinson Indigenous Residency and will be based at the University’s Southbank campus, home to the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (VCA & MCM). The Residency was established in perpetuity last year from a $1,000,000 grant from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust and named in honour of Darvell M Hutchinson, who steered the Trust for 50 years. Associate Dean of the VCA & MCM and Chair of the selection panel, Ms Deborah Cheetham AO, said the Residency aimed to build an alumni of Victorian Indigenous artists, enabling them to share their ideas, enhance their skills and to…

Three new exhibitions have opened at TarraWarra Museum of art. All exhibitions run from March 28th until 8th June 2015. Kate Beynon | An-Li: A Chinese Ghost TaleTALE Kate Beynon’s new body of work is inspired by a supernatural Chinese tale of two young spirits who traverse two worlds; one magically aquatic, the other earthly. Beynon has imagined the guiding spirit of the goddess Kwan Yin as their paths lead from tragedy to transformation, hope and healing. The works have been commissioned by Art and Australia for a new hardcover publication, An-Li: A Chinese Ghost Tale, edited by Laura Murray Cree, which will include the tale alongside colour reproductions of the works in this exhibition. The book will be launched to coincide with the exhibition. The exhibition will feature works on paper, paintings, an animated video and a suspended sculptural installation.…

Tim Alves, author of the catalogue essay ‘Ginger Riley, the Boss of Colour’ will present a floor talk on the exhibition, the artist and his work. Please meet at reception. Tim Alves is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Monash University and a curator at Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne. Date:7 March 2015, 2.30pm Venue: Castlemaine Art Gallery RSVP or (03) 5472 2292 About the exhibition Ginger Riley: The Boss of Colour is the first major exhibition of Ginger Riley Munduwalawala’s work since the retrospective Mother Country in Mind: The Art of Ginger Riley Munduwalawala held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1997, and the first survey exhibition in a public gallery since the artist passed away in 2002.It is also the first exhibition of Indigenous art at the Castlemaine Art Gallery. Riley (circa 1936- 2002) was a saltwater man,…

Ginger Riley: The Boss of Colour is currently on display at the Castlemain Art Gallery. This is the first major exhibition of Ginger Riley Munduwalawala’s work since the retrospective Mother Country in Mind: The Art of Ginger Riley Munduwalawala held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1997. It is the first survey exhibition of his work in a public gallery since the artist passed away in 2002 and the first exhibition of Indigenous art at the Castlemaine Art Gallery. Riley (circa 1936- 2002) was a saltwater man, from Marra country in the gulf region of the Northern Territory. He is recognised for his strikingly bright and bold paintings of his Mother country. The paintings in the exhibition demonstrate Riley’s vibrant and powerful depictions of country, which challenged and changed Australia’s preconceived notion of Indigenous art, and our landscape painting tradition. The intensity and energy of Riley’s…

The history of Aboriginal art has a number of overlapping, blurred edge phases; it is market driven and of European historical conceit on one side, and the offering up of icons, ideas, and possibly a moral-memory insistence on the (Aboriginal) other side. Djob Mundine is a member of the Bandjalung people of northern New South Wales. With an extensive career as a curator, activist, writer and occasional artist, Djon worked in Arnhem Land as Art Adviser to the Milingimbi, Maningrida, and Ramingining Aboriginal communities for sixteen years. Djon was concept curator of The Aboriginal Memorial, 1987-88, now on permanent display at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Over 1993-4 he was travelling curator for the important Aratjara exh., that travelled to Dusseldorf, London, and Danmark. Djon And Natalie King are co-curators of ‘Whisper in My Mask’, 2014 Tarrawarra Biennal, Healesville. Djon has…

Australian Aboriginal culture has a unique place in the world, being the oldest continuous living culture. The ICOM-CC Cultural Evening celebrates Australia’s extraordinary Indigenous cultures, and includes performance and story-telling. Featuring artists and performers from the Warmun Art Centre and Walayirti Artists this event presents a unique opportunity to experience Australia’s rich Indigenous cultures, and a cultural legacy that stretches back at least 50,000 years. This event will be held in the Great Hall at the National Gallery of Victoria.The Warmun Art Centre and Walayirti Artists represent the Aboriginal communities of Warmun and Balgo respectively. These communities are part of the remote Halls Creek Shire, which is located 2873km north-east of Perth, on the edges of the Great Sandy Desert and Tanami Desert, in northwest Australia. Covering some 142,908 square kilometres of predominantly desert and pastoral country, Halls Creek Shire is home to a…

The healing power of art made by Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples is the subject of a Symposium at The Dax Centre on 19 and 20 September. This is a new exploration of the significance of Aboriginal art. The symposium will address a range of urgent and relevant topics on Indigenous art including art as therapy, community art projects, the role of arts centres in healing and Australian Indigenous contemporary art practices. The inspiring two-day symposium titled Healing Ways: Art with Intent will be opened by Professor Ian Anderson, Foundation Chair of Indigenous Higher Education, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of Murrup Barak, University of Melbourne, and include three keynote addresses, 13 presentations, 25 speakers and an artists’ panel. The full program is available on the website. Keynote speakers include: Judy Atkinson, Emeritus Professor, Southern Cross University and author…

Why Being Real Matters: Art & Authenticity in Australia Robyn Sloggett In this talk, Associate Professor Robyn Sloggett presents an outline of the history of art and cultural heritage fraud in Australia. She examines the ways in which scholarship intersects (or does not intersect) with art fraud investigations and what is at stake when art fraud goes unreported. With the Australian indigenous art market estimated at around $500 million and with estimates for the amount of problematic art in the market at about 10%, the issue is significant in both economic and social terms. This talk looks at these issues and at the current options for dealing with the problem of art fraud in the Australian market. Associate Professor Robyn Sloggett is Director of the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, which delivers industry-focused teaching, research and consultancy programs related to cultural preservation. Her current research incorporates art authentication, the scientific and cultural analysis of…

Murujuga Marni – the Burrup Petroglyphs in Context: Australia’s Oldest Rock Art Under Threat? Dr Ken Mulvaney, archaeologist and cultural heritage specialist, will explain the global significance of the rock art of the Burrup Peninsula/Murujuga. Ken Mulvaney lives in Dampier and is Rio Tinto’s Cultural Heritage specialist. His PhD in archaeology was on the rock art of the Dampier Archipelago, including the Burrup Peninsula / Murujuga. The site contains over a million ancient rock carvings that provide a unique record of human culture going back 30,000 years. It’s older than any rock art in Europe. Yet astoundingly the landscape also supports a thriving billion dollar energy business- a gas refinery, which in 2014 will export 4 million tonnes of LNG to China! Ken will talk about the history of the Archipelago, the many conflicting interests in its management, and what…

On Saturday 30 November the Ian Potter Museum are presenting a panel discussion on Yolngu bark paintings and sacred body designs, that will include senior Yolngu cultural leader and artist Wanyubi Marika from Yirrkala. Panel Speakers | Lindy Allen, Howard Morphy, Wanyubi Marika This panel of renowned experts will discuss the cultural and historical importance of early Yolngu bark paintings that feature sacred body designs and how they relate to Yolngu art and ceremony in the 21st century.Displayed in the exhibition Transformations: early bark painting from Arnhem Land, these remarkable paintings represent the genesis of two-dimensional painting in Yolngu culture. Collected by Professor Donald Thomson during fieldwork in 1935–37 and 1942, these rarely exhibited works are some of the first translations onto bark of sacred designs relating to creation ancestors, and are undoubtedly works of artistic brilliance.The university’s Donald…

Australia Sheridan Palmer The exhibition is on at the Royal Academy of the Arts from 21 September–8 December 2013. Entering the grand Georgian courtyard of Burlington House, flanked by the Society of Antiquaries, the Linnaean Society and the Society of Geographers, a large banner with Sidney Nolan’s iconic 1946 Ned Kelly greets the visitor at the steps of the Royal Academy. It is a foretaste of things to come; Kelly is seen from the back riding off into a sandy, sparse scrub, shotgun in hand, a lone outlaw in black iron armor. Inside the Royal Academy Shaun Gladwell’s video Approach to Mundi Mundi (1997) is projected onto black walls (Fig. 1). A black leather-clad motor cyclist, a dawn rider with arms out-stretched reminiscent of Anthony Gormley’s Angel of the North, rides along double white lines on an outback bitumen road,…